A few years ago, Italian auto giant Fiat was very close to partnering up with General Motors. However, that deal went sour at the last minute and a few years after that, Fiat bought a big chunk of Chrysler in its quest to have a large slice of the American market.
More recently, the company was in the news announcing that Fiat is looking to partner up with Mazda or Suzuki, which would not only help expand Fiat’s reach into the Asian market, but also co-develop future small car platforms and technologies together.
Not content with sitting idling by, waiting for deals to happen, Fiat/Chrysler are constantly seeking alliances to further its growth.
The latest round of news from the 2012 Geneva Auto Show is that Fiat is “open to Volvo talks.” Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne expressed that he is “interested in talking to everyone that wants to talk with me.”
Volvo, which is now owned by the Chinese auto firm Geely, wants to expand itself in the small car segment in developing markets which makes Fiat an good fit because it already has plenty of small cars in its line-up. This tie-up could prove very beneficial for Volvo, to offer a new small car, without going through the expense of designing and engineering a complete new vehicle itself.
Fiat will benefit by finding a route into the Chinese market, which is currently the fastest growing economy in the world.
As for future drive-train technologies, Marchionne says; “There’s still lots of unexplored technology with combustion. Future drive-trains need to be cheaper and more cost effective.”
While Fiat is to introduce its first electric car later this year, the 500e (shown above), it only did so because it pooled technology from a host of companies already in the electric car field and thus saved cost of developing a complete new system themselves.
When asked if Fiat was in talks with PSA Peugeot Citroen, Marchionne denied the claim saying, “I would not like to be GM. The integration for the cost does not go far enough and would not have met our requirements.”
Fiat was at one point in talks with GM to take over Opel-Vauxhall and Saab, and Marchionne confidently said he could have “found a solution for the brands.”
Will Fiat and Volvo become partners or will they form an alliance with Mazda or Suzuki? Only time will tell.
[Source: Autocar]

The Italian carmaker which controls Chrysler Group LLC, is cutting investments in Europe by 500 million euros ($632 million) on expectations that the region’s auto market won’t recover in the second half.

“The capital expenditure reduction is about half a billion euros from what we planned last year for 2012 in Europe,” Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said late yesterday in an interview in Madrid, where he’s heading the annual gathering of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA. A recovery in Europe “depends on many factors: first Greece, then the way in which the Euro currency will continue and what Europe will do to sustain growth.”

Fiat SpA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne. Photographer: Oliver Bunic/Bloomberg
.Fiat, which owns 58.5 percent in Chrysler, has stopped additional investments and postponed the introduction of new models in Europe. Marchionne, who also runs Chrysler, plans to eventually merge Fiat and the American carmaker in a bid to increase sales to more than 100 billion euros by 2014 and reduce the Italian manufacturer’s reliance on Europe.

Marchionne said that the new Grande Punto model, which was originally scheduled to be built beginning in 2013, “is one of the projects we are reconsidering in line with the changes” of the market in Europe. Fiat is discussing partnerships “with several people, and in some cases our architectures, including the one for the Punto, are involved in the talks,” he said.

“We’re definitely going to be at these lower sales levels for some time to come in Europe,” Richard Hilgert, a Chicago- based analyst for Morningstar Equity Research, said by telephone. “It’s going to be a long, slow recovery over there, and Marchionne’s focusing more on growth outside of Europe.”

Chrysler Stake
Fiat will pay less than 200 million euros to increase its stake in Chrysler by 3.3 percent to 61.8 percent, Marchionne said. Fiat already sent a letter to exercise its option, Marchionne said in the interview outside a Madrid hotel.

The CEO said there won’t be “any spectacular news” on a full acquisition of Chrysler in the second half. Fiat is not currently in talks with the United Auto Workers’ retiree health- care trust, VEBA, to buy its remaining holding in the U.S. carmaker, said Marchionne, who added that he’ll switch off all his mobile devices to celebrate his 60th birthday June 17.

Fiat is not considering an initial public offering of its Ferrari super-car maker to finance an acquisition of Chrysler, the CEO said. “We have enough cash.”

Fiat may pay about 3 billion euros to buy the rest of Chrysler, Max Warburton, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein wrote in a note to clients May 21.

“This is an excessive sum for me, have a look at General Motors Co. (GM) multiples,” Marchionne said.

European carmaker CEOs meeting in Madrid haven’t made any progress on a common plan to address the region’s overcapacity issues, Marchionne said.

“I think my proposal will just remain a Marchionne idea,” he said. “If there’s no coordination by the European Union,” every carmaker in Europe will “do it by itself,” he said before a gala dinner with the other executives.

Fiat and Volvo are like brothers. They have a lot of things in common.

1. Volvo is one of the safest cars in the world. Fiat has the same repute.
2. Volvo and Fiat uses the latest technology
3. Volvos and Fiats are heavy cars and have a high build quality.
4. Volvo and Fiat offer value for money cars.
5. Volvos and Fiat have exceptional ride quality and comfort.
6. Volvos and Fiat are sluggish in their initial
7. Volvos and Fiat are owned only by the well informed
8. Volvos and Fiat have a low brand image in comparison with the competition
09. Volvo and fiat are not interested in selling cars. They just make cars(BMW/Audi/Merc sell more in volvos story. Swift/1-20/Polo in case of Punto, Vento/Verna/Sunny in case of Linea)
10. Last but not the least. Volvo and fiat have the best cars in the world and are preceived to have the finest R&D but they entrust their sales, services and marketing to clowns who know nothin about cars

Volvos and Fiat are managed by clowns on the top in india hence they dont sell... so its like blood brothers. They have to unite. Thats they way they go.:up

Nimish, Volvo buses in India are hot cakes though their cars are not. You will see it every where.

When I was a kid I, I have seen these cars in Singapore roads. Then use to wonder why the grill has the slashing line. All other cars doesn't have it. Also use to wonder why the headrests are not made with cushion(Uno have that kind of head rest). Why those horizontal bars? Will it give pain?. Always like to spot the slashed line grill. But very rare compared to Mazda,Nissan,mistubishi and Honda.